No chargesheet in Dar case

It is also learnt that the police will be submitting to the court a report requesting discharge of the case, reports Tushar Srivastava.

Tariq Ahmad Dar, who was arrested in October last year on charges of being a Lashkar-e-Tayyeba militant, will most likely be released on Wednesday. The model’s arrest had created a huge furore in Jammu and Kashmir.

According to officials, the Delhi Police has not managed to file a chargesheet against Dar. The 90-day period for the process ended on Tuesday. “If the chargesheet is not filed within the stipulated period, the person has a right to bail and the court has to grant him the same,” said Kamini Jaiswal, senior criminal lawyer.

It is also learnt that the police will be submitting to the court a report requesting discharge of the case. “Thorough investigation was conducted in the case but nothing incriminating was found against Dar,” a senior police officer said. Public Prosecutor, Rajiv Mohan said production warrants had been issued and that Dar would be produced in court in the court of Seema Maini, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, on Wednesday.

The Hindustan Times had first reported Dar’s case on November 4.A successful businessman and a big name in the Bangladeshi modeling circuit, Dar, 25, was branded as a RAW agent by the Bangladeshi government and deported to India. However, on landing in India, he was picked-up the police on Intelligence Bureau’s input, as they suspected he had links with the banned militant outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyeba. Two Lashkar militants arrested from outside New Delhi railway station in August last year had named Dar in their interrogation. For Dar’s family, his arrest came as a rude shock. His father, Gulam Nabi Dar, is well-known as a poet and writer in Srinagar. His family is owns a handicrafts firm — New Dar Handicrafts.

“We used to accompany our father to Dhaka regularly for the Dhaka International Trade Fair,” said Imtiaz, Dar’s younger brother. Dar, on his friends insistence, gave a shot at modeling and became a huge success. He soon became one of the most recognisable faces in Bangladesh. Dar even won the Mr Bangladesh contest in 2003 and that was where, his family said, he was noticed by the Bangladeshi intelligence agencies.

Since he was an Indian national, his participation aroused suspicion. On September 15, the Rapid Action Battalion of Bangladesh arrested Dar. “He was kept in illegal custody for 40 days and subjected to third degree torture. He was finally deported to India after the Amnesty International, citizens of Bangladesh and the Indian external affairs ministry intervened,” Imtiaz said. However, as soon as he landed at the Delhi airport, he was picked-up by the police. “No innocent should suffer like this,” said his father on Tuesday.